Pages

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

All tucked in

I spent yesterday removing a ton of weeds from the veggie garden that had become quite overgrown. That is what happens in the tropics. Then I lugged in a couple of bucket loads of mulch - that is pretty much the end of the pile now. This should keep the weeds at bay and since the rains seem to have started everything will stay nice and moist. There are regular mint and lemon balm in pots, spearmint in the front bricks, and a few struggling parsley and one struggling strawberry. Basil, tropical coriander, and mother of herbs doing ok.

This is the view of the veggie garden from the very back corner. This middle bed has a few pawpaw, a struggling yakon (got some little white bugs, so I cut it right back) A couple of good eggplant, winged beans, chinese long beans, and few rosella, a few pigeon pea, a cape gooseberry, onions, spring onions and garlic chives. The bed to the right has asparagus, mushroom plant, Galangal, lemongrass and turmeric.

The bed against the fence has ginger, jicama and sweet potato.

A plant that a neighbor gave me at the end of last wet season has risen from dormancy. (I told her it was just going dormant but she was convinced she had killed it) Doesn't it have pretty flowers?

The calathea is settling in and sending out new pink backed leaves.

So that is it! I am off on my holiday and the garden is on its own. I am interested to see just how much growth happens in three weeks in the wet season.

11 comments:

This is completely off-topic but I wanted to let you know that I made the ginger beer using 800g of sugar rather than the 1kg mentioned in the recipe. The end result has been drunk and is absolutely perfect. Thank you for your comment about the sugar otherwise I would never have considered reducing the amount.

Wow! You do have everything tucked in! What beautiful plants.I must know...what it the name of that Curcuma ginger? It's absolutely stunning.Wish I could grow calatheas outdoors but it's too cold in Houston. I used to have 8 varieties and I loved having them.david/:-)

That orange flower is absolutely lovely - to think it was considered to be dead! It's weird to think that just as your garden in facing the wet season, mine is facing the dry. Have a wonderful holiday!

Hi oganisedcastle,great - glad that helpedDavid,I am not one for remembering latin names, but I am pretty sure it isCurcuma Rosecoena (Pride of Burma)Gippslandgardener,The thing is that I often forget about plants lying dormant - should put a sign there I suppose :)Bom,Good luck with your vegetables, I am learning to grow what grows best in this area, sometimes you have to acquire the taste...Veggiegobbler,thanks, and congratulations on your avocadosRonnelle,We are very lucky to live in this tropical climateSolitude rising,yes everything has fared very well, I am getting ready to post some updated photos.

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me

Photos lost

You will notice that in some of my older posts the photos have been lost. I am sooo sorry. I have left them there because they still contain a lot of good information. Where appropriate I will slowly begin adding in more photos, so hang in there!

Other places to find me......

Quotes I enjoy

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables, they probably get jet-lagged, just like people do - Elizabeth Berry

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more,

but in developing the capacity to enjoy less

- paraphrased from Socrates quote

“See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa

Nature in all its diversity grants us a glimpse into the heart of God the Father which is nothing but Love.

It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you seeHendry David Thoreau

Making a garden is not a gentle hobby for the elderly,to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole, and once it has done so he will have to acceptthat his life is going to be radically changed. May SartonPlant Dreaming Deep, 1983

When the trees sing,It doesn't really matterIf you know the song, Or if you know the words,Or even if you know the tune.What really matters is knowing ....That the trees are singing at all.Mattie Stepanek, 1990-2004

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walkor an evening saunter;to be thrilled by the stars at night:to be elated over a bird's nestor a wildflower in spring... these are some of the rewards of the simple life.John Burroughs, 1837-1921

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…”– Thoreau

“Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” ~ Charles M. Schulz

You who walkmaybe with troubled thoughts....Come, enter here and restand may the sweet serenityof growing things....and the heavenly peacebe mirrored in thy soul.by Michael Palmer

Gods GardenThe Lord God planted a gardenIn the first white days of the world,And he set there an angel wardenIn a garment of light enfurled.So near to the peace of HeavenThat the hawk might nest with the wren,For there in the cool of the evenGod walked with the first of men.And I dream that these garden closesWith their shade and their sun-flecked sodAnd their lilies and bowers of roses,Were laid by the hand of God.The kiss of the sun for pardon,The song of the birds for mirth, -One is nearer God’s heart in a gardenThan anywhere else on earth.For He broke it for us in a gardenUnder the olive-treesWhere the angel of strength was the wardenAnd the soul of the world found ease.Dorothy Francis Gurney

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.Mary Jean Iron

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.Albert Einstein

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."~ John Lubbock******************************************************